Football, GRE, and more...
I ended up not taking my folks or brother to the Portland State game. I thought that the 1 cent tickets were for anyone, but they were just for kids 17 and younger. I ended up going with Daniel, and enjoyed the Bears winning comfortably (42-16). This past Saturday, the Pac-10 conference season started, and I was at the Cal-Arizona State game (good way to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, no?) =). I went with Daniel and his dad. I thought the game would be close and high-scoring, given that both teams had pretty prolific offenses, and ASU had no semblance of a defense =). I was close - it was high scoring. Cal used a strong game by Nate Longshore (4 passing touchdowns), strong defense (2 interceptions returned for touchdowns; 4 picks on the game), and good special teams (Andrew Larson was getting about 45 yards per punt, DeSean Jackson had a punt return td (and a receiving td)) and steamrolled the Sun Devils 49-21. The only downsides in the game (other than it not being close) were Jackson getting a helmet to helmet hit on a punt return - the ASU defender (Justin Tryon) came http://www.livejournal.com/update.bmldown, saw that Jackson didn't have the ball from the punt, and still hit him helmet to helmet. Why he wasn't ejected for that, I don't know. Also, Marshawn had a very quiet 100+ yard game (and over 7 yards per carry). I'd love to see him put up bigger #s, especially given the hype for the Heisman (which may be dead?), but part of the reason for the relatively small numbers might be by design. Mike Dunbar's spread offense calls for a lot of passing and setting up in the shotgun (which doesn't make for easy running). And it could well be that Tedford wants the team to be extremely balanced, even if it means not exploiting Cal's offensive strength or an opponent's defensive weakness. And a final area of concern was that ASU's running back Ryan Torain had almost 200 yards on the ground and 7-8 yards per carry. Normally this would be horrible, but ASU is generally a pass-happy offense, and in addition to the 4 interceptions (The last of which was returned by linebacker Mickey Pimentel for a score - he jumped, did a half-somersault, half-belly flopped after he said he "realized he'd be chewed out by Jeff Tedford and Bob Gregory (defensive coordinator" - and got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct - the Bears forced ASU quarterback Rudy Carpenter into 3 fumbles (1 of which he lost)). Gregory said he didn't mind the numbers, because he felt ASU was running the clock out on themselves. This is great, but I'm hoping it's not a sign of tihngs to come. The Bears travel to snorevalis, er, Corvalis, to take on the Beavers (hehe) this Saturday.
The Niners lost 38-24 to the Iggles, and lost Frank Gore (abdonimal strain) and Vernon Davis (cracked bone in leg) for some time. I'm not happy about the loss, and ultimately, a Gore fumble on the goalline which was returned 98 yards for a Philadelphia touchdown, was the difference in the game (14 point swing right there). But it seemed that the team didn't give up, even when they were down big in the first half, and Alex Smith still played pretty well (27-46, 293 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions) - not turning the ball over, and eventually (sadly, too late) getting into a rhythm offensively. The 1-2 Niners travel to Kansas City to take on a Chiefs team that's without its regular quarterback (Trent Green) due to a concussion.
On the GRE front, I took a practice test today and got a 1230 combined. What was weird is I did really well on the math part (680!), but not so well on the verbal (550). Granted, had I gotten 2 more questions right on the verbal I would have had a 680/600 split, but I'm hoping that the low verbal isn't a bad sign. Hopefull I can raise my score by more than 20 points by the time I take the test in 3ish weeks (still have to officially register).
I started tutoring a new student today. He's an adult student, working as an accountant for county transportation, and I'm helping him with....math. Algebra, to be exact. Worked with him on factoring polynomials and exponents today. This proves that math (outside of arithmetic)...is useless. I might also get a 2nd new student (Go me!) this week, we'll find out. Also have a job interview with a chiropractor's office Wedneday morning, hope I can get some discounted or free treatments if I get hired =).
Rosh Hashanah was ok. We had some family friends over, so there was the usual stress of getting the house clean and making sure shit got done on time, but otherwise, it was pretty low-key and fun. I'm not looking forward to Sunday night.
On a good note, I have a ticket to the Sharks season opener (Thurs, Oct 5), and am excited to see a hockey game (hmmm, I saw the Sharks last 2 games of last season, and will see their first game of the new season). I'll be in 216 (between center and a blue line, I think the one near the goal that San Jose defends for 2 periods.
That's it for now...
The Niners lost 38-24 to the Iggles, and lost Frank Gore (abdonimal strain) and Vernon Davis (cracked bone in leg) for some time. I'm not happy about the loss, and ultimately, a Gore fumble on the goalline which was returned 98 yards for a Philadelphia touchdown, was the difference in the game (14 point swing right there). But it seemed that the team didn't give up, even when they were down big in the first half, and Alex Smith still played pretty well (27-46, 293 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions) - not turning the ball over, and eventually (sadly, too late) getting into a rhythm offensively. The 1-2 Niners travel to Kansas City to take on a Chiefs team that's without its regular quarterback (Trent Green) due to a concussion.
On the GRE front, I took a practice test today and got a 1230 combined. What was weird is I did really well on the math part (680!), but not so well on the verbal (550). Granted, had I gotten 2 more questions right on the verbal I would have had a 680/600 split, but I'm hoping that the low verbal isn't a bad sign. Hopefull I can raise my score by more than 20 points by the time I take the test in 3ish weeks (still have to officially register).
I started tutoring a new student today. He's an adult student, working as an accountant for county transportation, and I'm helping him with....math. Algebra, to be exact. Worked with him on factoring polynomials and exponents today. This proves that math (outside of arithmetic)...is useless. I might also get a 2nd new student (Go me!) this week, we'll find out. Also have a job interview with a chiropractor's office Wedneday morning, hope I can get some discounted or free treatments if I get hired =).
Rosh Hashanah was ok. We had some family friends over, so there was the usual stress of getting the house clean and making sure shit got done on time, but otherwise, it was pretty low-key and fun. I'm not looking forward to Sunday night.
On a good note, I have a ticket to the Sharks season opener (Thurs, Oct 5), and am excited to see a hockey game (hmmm, I saw the Sharks last 2 games of last season, and will see their first game of the new season). I'll be in 216 (between center and a blue line, I think the one near the goal that San Jose defends for 2 periods.
That's it for now...